Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to review the funerary inscription from Tarraco recording the beata Thecla, an old egiptian christian woman that was a consecrated virgin (AE 2007, 838). This holy sister native from Egypt was buried in one of the western palaeochristian funerary basilicas dated in the 5th century. A revision of the last twenty years literature is made, and the epigraphic characteristics of the whole text are reconsidered (palaeography, formulae, etc.). Finally, conclusions allow to confirm that there is no connexion between this beata Thecla and the medieval local cult devoted in Tarragona to the saint Thecla of Iconio, patroness of the city, as it was proposed by some authors.